


For Will

by gwaine_loves_apples



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Gwen (Merlin), Gen, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Gwaine Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Humor, Humorous Ending, Mention of Minor Character Death, Merlin is a Little Shit, Pigs, Pranks, Protective Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Protective Knights (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25939513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwaine_loves_apples/pseuds/gwaine_loves_apples
Summary: While it has been many years since Will’s passing, Merlin still thinks about him and misses him often. Gwaine finds out and helps him commemorate Will the best way that they know how.Basically, a nobleman is a dick to Gwen, and Merlin and Gwaine teach him a lesson Will style!
Relationships: Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin & Will (Merlin)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 179





	For Will

It was one of those rare late summer days when work got done early and Merlin and Gwaine had time to relax. The two grabbed some drinks and found their way to the top of the castle's western wall to watch the sunset and the city below. The sun peacefully bathed the whole valley in warm golden light. They sat next to each other on the edge of the wall and drank and teased each other, happy to finally relax. Eventually, as the sun had almost set, they settled into a comfortable silence. Merlin smiled at the warm feeling in his chest. Gwaine’s shoulder was pressed against his and he had to remind himself not to lean into it too much, not wanting to make him lose his balance off the edge of the wall. He felt so comfortable with Gwaine. He hadn’t been able to truly be himself with anyone else since he had left home. 

“You know, you remind me of my best friend growing up,” Merlin glanced sideways at Gwaine, catching his gaze. Something about the moment made him compelled to open up to him.

“Oh really,” Gwaine gently smiled and raised his eyebrows, “who?”

“His name was Will.”

“Was?” Gwaine’s expression softened.

“He died years ago saving Arthur from an arrow in Ealdor.” Merlin tried to ignore the pang of sadness and guilt when he said it. Arthur wasn’t the only one he saved that day.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Gwaine gently put a hand on Merlin’s shoulder. 

“Me too.” Merlin huffed out a short bitter laugh, but the guilt subsided as quickly as it came, and he looked out at the sun set again. He knew Will would have liked it, summers were always his favorite. Memories started flooding back to Merlin as he continued to watch the changing color of the sky.

“We always were dreaming up these ridiculous plans.” Merlin paused to shake his head in disbelief at the things they had said. “Once, we decided that if we ever ended up in Camelot together, we would steal noble men’s clothes, dress pigs in them, and set them loose into the town square.” Merlin couldn’t help but smile at the memories of the conversation. 

Gwaine barked out a laugh. “Quite the mutineer, this Will.”

“Well we were impoverished 14 year olds with a penchant for chaos.” Merlin laughed. “Will always did hate noblemen, or anything to do with royalty for that matter.”

“Now that, I can relate too,” Gwaine said while cracking a smile.

“Yeah, I thought you might.” Merlin couldn’t help but smile too. The two paused, sipping some ale, swinging their legs over the battlement, and continued to watch the sunset fade over the beautiful city.

“It’s not too late.” Gwaine said, pulling Merlin from his reverie. 

“What?” 

“Merlin, you happen to be the only person in Camelot in the unique position to carry out this plan successfully.” He gestured to Merlin with his bottle then spread his arms wide, proposing the idea. “Maybe he intuitively knew.” 

Merlin laughed again. “Will was many things, but he certainly wasn’t clairvoyant.” Gwaine just waited with his eyebrows raised in expectation. “You can’t be serious.”

“Come on, I’ll help!” He sounded downright eager.

“It’s treasonous and you just said that I’d be the only person able to pull it off, making me the only suspect.” Out of all the laws Merlin had broken, he was not going to get thrown into jail over _this_. 

“Not with a good enough alibi you won’t be,” Gwaine smirked and gave him a salacious wink. Merlin swung his legs back onto the pavement and stood up so that when Gwaine followed he could give him a proper shove in response. 

Miraculously, the next day the opportunity presented itself.

Lord Dominic was a vile, vile, nobleman who was close to Uther when he was alive. He treated his servants poorly, acted as if women existed simply to please him, and was extremely greedy, never helping others unless the deal helped himself more. He was visiting Camelot upon Arthur’s request. The man lived in a remote area, and was able to provide support to a small far off village that currently needed extra assistance for the upcoming winter. Lord Dominic entered the meeting late and full of complaints. Merlin thought that he couldn’t get any worse until he did. 

“Lord Dominic, if you’d please listen, those villagers need your extra food supply and protection from the winter. They will be eternally grateful for your help.” Gwen was trying in vain to talk some sense into the man, proving her heart of gold by how patient she was with him for the people’s sake. 

“As if I’d want their worthless gratitude,” He sneered at a now affronted Gwen and then turned to the King. “That’s rich, Arthur, thinking that I take orders from some lowly servant girl playing at royalty.”

“Excuse me?” Gwen demanded, as shocked as everyone else in the room was at his rudeness. Arthur, looking murderous, shot out of his seat and his hand reflexively landed on the hilt of his sword. All of the knights quickly followed suit. Each one of them looked as pissed as the next. Merlin started thinking about all the covert spells he could cast on the man right now that would make him regret his words. He was currently at nine, but was sure there were a few more. Before he could cast one Arthur started hollering at the man. 

“Dominic, unless you want to renounce your title as a nobleman and leave Camelot forever then I suggest you get down on your knees and apologize to your Queen!” Arthur’s rage was palpable. The old git quickly fell onto his knees, clearly scared of Arthur’s threats. 

“My humblest apologies your majesty, please forgive my egregious behavior.” The man said quickly, hardly sincere. A moment went by before she granted him a response. 

“Lord Dominic?” Gwen held her head high and rid her face from any emotion. She was the perfect picture of detached royalty. 

“Yes my Queen?”

“You will feed, protect, and meet all of the needs of any village surrounding your land. We will send men to ensure they are well cared for. If you fail, then you have failed to serve your kingdom and by no means earned your right to keep your title. Is that clear?

“Yes, your majesty.”

Gwen didn’t reply but a small smile returned to her face when she made eye contact with her proud husband. After a second Arthur looked back up and addressed the man.

“Lord Dominic, you are lucky that your Queen is so merciful. Return home by morning, we will be checking in on your word in a few months time. You may take your leave.”

“Yes, Sire.” The nobleman, red with anger and embarrassment, bowed and left the room avoiding eye contact with everyone. Merlin caught Gwaine’s eye from across the room. He nodded his head slightly, as he always did when he wanted to talk with Merlin directly after a meeting. Later after the meeting adjourned, Gwaine passed by Merlin and whispered into his ear.

“Looks like he just volunteered his wardrobe.” Gwaine lifted his eyebrows but left the room with the rest of the crowd before Merlin could say anything. The idea hadn’t previously occurred to him, but now there was no stopping it.

Merlin dragged himself out of bed at the crack of dawn. He then quietly snuck into Lord Dominic’s chambers and stole all of his clothes. Luckily, the man had planned for a much longer stay and Merlin had a lot of material to work with. He then met a rather haggard looking Gwaine at the largest pig pen in the middle of the town. Tossing the clothes onto the ground after Gwaine gave him the all clear, he magicked the clothes onto the pigs. The sight was absolutely ridiculous and the two men had to hold back their laughter so they wouldn’t wake anyone up. Amazingly, the pigs did not seem to mind, or even notice, their change in attire. 

“I honestly can’t believe that I hadn’t come up with this idea myself.” Gwaine chuckled while leaning over the fence to adjust a pigs collar so that it didn’t stick up. Merlin couldn’t ignore the hilarious irony of the action.

“I take it you're sure about this then.” His stomach was twisting with excitement and nerves.

“Merlin, even though I never had the opportunity to meet him, I have a feeling that Will would have hated that guy, and done this without a second thought.” 

He cracked a grin, remembering how Will’s lack of second thoughts usually landed them in trouble. 

“Hand me that ridiculous hat?” Merlin asked, and Gwaine tossed him the rather fluffy feathered atrocity. He securely adjusted it to the head of a nearby swine. Merlin cast another spell that encouraged people to ignore the absurdity that was the pig pen when they passed by until Merlin set them free. They crouched behind some crates and waited until the morning rush of people filled the streets. When the time was right, Merlin opened the gate of the pen that faced the castle’s courtyard while Gwaine took a flat piece of wood and smacked it against the stone street, causing a loud crack! Chaos erupted from the pig pen as they all loudly squealed and started pouring out into the streets. Everyone near by yelled and jumped out of the way, adding to the commotion. Merlin couldn’t have been happier with the results.

“FOR WILL!” Merlin shouted from his hiding spot before he could help himself. Gwaine let out a big laugh over the squealing and yelling. He cupped his mouth and repeated Merlin,

“For Will!” 

Luckily, no one paid attention to them during the ruckus, and both ducked behind the crates again and laughed. It was immature, and yeah, it didn’t really solve anything, but imagining how proud a 14 year old Will would have been was all worth it. Besides, no one got away with being a dick to Gwen. Several farmers and the pig owners tried to herd the pigs in vain, but they were too riled up. People all around pointed and gasped at the expensive, yet ridiculous, clothes the pigs were dressed in, recognizing that they belonged to a nobleman. The stableboys and other children from the market were doubled over in laughter. Some of them tried to chase and catch smaller ones with no luck. 

Eventually the pigs were wrestled back into their pens and Merlin and Gwaine snuck back to the castle to pretend that they had never left. Unfortunately, Arthur demanded both of their presence in the throne room within ten minutes of their return. Arthur looked extremely annoyed as the two entered. He wasted no time. 

“Merlin, explain to me why Lord Dominic was wandering around the castle naked this morning, and why every pig in Camelot seems to have acquired a new tunic?” 

“He left his room like that!?” Merlin couldn’t suppress his shocked glee.

“Yes,” Arthur said through gritted teeth. 

“Huh, well the Lord did have it coming, sire.” He inclined his eyebrows and gave Arthur a knowing look. There was no way he could be mad about this. 

Arthur continued to glare at the two of them. “Are you both aware of the punishment for stealing property in Camelot?”

“Surely you’re not accusing Merlin of such a thing?” Gwaine smoothly interjected, twisting the situation as usual. 

“No, but I am accusing the both of you.” Arthur said in a self satisfied manner. 

“But Arthur, we were both busy at the time of the crime.” Merlin said, sounding as innocent as he could muster. He immediately regretted his choice of words and started scrambling to come up with some reasonable excuse.

“What could you possibly be doing at the crack of dawn besides sleeping or committing a crime?” Arthur asked incredulously.

“I was snogging Gwaine.” He said this with as much conviction as one says ‘the sky is blue’. Gwaine made a choking sound next to him, before quickly recovering.

“Yes, your highness,” Gwaine suavely stepped in and roped an arm around Merlin’s waist, “I can attest to Merlin’s alibi, we were definitely snogging. And as a knight of Camelot-”

“Stop, stop. Just stop speaking right now.” Arthur waved his hand in front of him as if to physically distance the thought of the two making out from him and scrunched his face up in disgust. Next to him, Gwen was failing to hide her laughter behind her hand. Merlin waited a few seconds before sealing the deal.

“Can we go now?” Merlin half turned to the door, “because this meeting actually interrupted something that I was doing-” 

“-that something being me-” Gwaine quipped with expert speed. 

“Get out!” Arthur exasperatedly cut them off before he was subjected to hear anymore. 

Once they reached the hallway Gwaine grinned wide and slung and arm around Merlin’s shoulders.

“Excellent work Merlin! Now, did your friend, Will, have any more brilliant ideas? I’m feeling lucky.”

“No. There is no way that we are doing this again,” Merlin laughed and shoved Gwaine off of him.

“Pleeeease Merlin?”

“No-”

“How about-”

“What did I just say?”

The two carried on like this for the rest of the day. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading! I heard about willappreciation2020 on tumblr, and was inspired to write about Merlin and Gwaine commemorating Will. I don’t know if this has enough about Will in it to count for the fest, but this fic definitely appreciates him!
> 
> As always, comments are greatly appreciated! <3


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